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A Russian jet that has captured the imagination of  skywatchers everywhere has now landed in Washington, D.C. Politico reporter Daniel Lippman was the first to report the plane is in the United States to pick up Russian spies that are being kicked out of the country.
The plane— an Ilyushin Il-96 — took off from St. Petersburg in Russia and as you can see from the flight path posted on FlightAware has now landed at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).
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It’s unclear when the plane will depart the U.S. or if it will make any more stops.
Lippman spoke with me on Saturday from D.C. and said, the “State Department told me it’s to pick up the expelled Russian diplomats mostly from the Russian mission to the United Nations. There’s one Russian staffer who works at the U.N. they also expelled.”
“The U.S. government approved a flight chartered by the Russian government to facilitate the departure of Russian UN Mission personnel who were expelled for abuse of their privileges of residence,” according to a statement given to Politico from a State Department spokesperson.
President Joe Biden closed United States airspace to Russia in Tuesday’s State of the Union address. “Tonight I am announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American airspace to all Russian flights, further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy,” he said.
This plane was given special permission to make the flight.
Lippman told me he thinks it was the same plane “previously used to fly Russian diplomats to Belarus for peace negotiations this week … It’s been getting a lot of use the last week … all tied up with the conflict.”
A Ilyushin Il-96 was allowed to land in Washington to rescue 13 expelled Russian diplomats https://t.co/g7AKL90hwY
— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) March 5, 2022

When I asked Lippman how unusual all this was, he said it reminds him of “The Americans,” a popular series that aired on FX about Soviet spies living in the United States in the 1980s at the height of the Cold War.
Lippman said it was all a part of cutting Russia off from the world for its invasion of Ukraine, “and planes are a part of that.”
Featured image of a specially modified Ilyushin Il-96 airliner preparing to land at Sofia Airport, Bulgaria by Anton Balakchiev/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images.
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